1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to arc resistance performance evaluation devices, arc resistance performance evaluation systems, and arc resistance performance evaluation methods, and in particular, to a device and a method for evaluating the arc resistance performance of a fiber material.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the United States, five to ten cases of arc flash accidents occur every day. Since the temperature of the arc is very high, namely approximately 5000K or higher, if such accidents once occur, it may lead to severe burns or fatal accidents in some cases. Thus, protective clothing having high arc resistance performance is desired to protect one's self from such an accident.
In developing such protective clothing, a detailed study on what kind of material to use for the clothing fabric needs to be carried out. To this end, the following method is considered one form of approach. Fibers of different materials are prepared, the fibers are irradiated with thermal flux under various conditions, and the reaction at the time is accumulated as data. The accumulated data are then analyzed to find the fiber material suited for the protective clothing.
In view of such an aspect, it can be recognized that the experiment of irradiating the fiber with thermal flux and obtaining the data needs to be conducted many times.
One example of a configuration of protective clothing having high arc resistance performance is disclosed in JP-A-2003-244811, for example.